Airglow Research With Astronomical Spectra
Final Report Abstract
The project focused on nighttime emissions in the Earth's upper atmosphere (mainly above 75 km) which originate from chemical reactions that are driven by the destructive impact of hard solar ultraviolet radiation at daytime. This permanent but highly variable chemiluminescence is an important indicator of atmospheric dynamics as caused by different wave-like phenomena as well as the solar influence on the Earth's atmosphere. The radiation is produced by different atoms and molecules in various excited states, which leads to a complex spectrum from the ultraviolet to the infrared. In principle, each emission line shows a characteristic height distribution and variability pattern for a wide range of time scales. Hence, the combined study of many lines with different properties can provide a detailed picture of the ongoing processes at the emission altitudes. In this project, we achieved this goal by the use of high-quality spectra with relatively high resolving power and wavelength coverage from the astronomical echelle spectrographs X-shooter and UVES of the Very Large Telescope at Cerro Paranal in Chile. By the study of archival data that were originally obtained for astronomical purposes, we could cover 15 years with about 10^4 UVES spectra and 10 years with about 10^5 X-shooter spectra, which allowed us to study variations on time scales of hours to years, including the solar activity cycle of about 11 years. In part, the analysis was supplemented by emission profiles from suitable broad-band channels of the SABER radiometer on the TIMED satellite. Moreover, simulations of the chemistry and dynamics were performed for a better understanding of the observations. Based on hundreds of measured lines and the extraction of the unresolved airglow continuum, we obtained the most complete airglow characterisation, so far. In the case of the important OH radical, the results include the systematic description of the excitation structure and its variability, the determination of the quality of temperature estimates from line ratios, and the derivation of effective emission heights of individiual lines. Other highlights are the first variability study of potassium emission and the discovery of a relatively strong pseudo-continuum in the nearinfrared that can convincingly be explained by HO2 emission. There are also results for atomic and molecular oxygen, sodium, FeO, and atomic nitrogen.
Publications
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42nd COSPAR Scientific Assembly, C2.1-0022-18, On the origin of varying non-LTE contributions to OH rotational temperatures
Noll, S., Proxauf, B., Kausch, W., Kimeswenger, S. & Winkler, H.
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EGU General Assembly 2018, EGU2018-6393, A kinetic model for non-LTE contributions to OH(v=9) rotational temperatures
Noll, S., Proxauf, B., Kausch, W. & Kimeswenger, S.
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Mechanisms for varying non-LTE contributions to OH rotational temperatures from measurements and modelling. I. Climatology. Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics, 175, 87-99.
Noll, Stefan; Proxauf, Bastian; Kausch, Wolfgang & Kimeswenger, Stefan
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Mechanisms for varying non-LTE contributions to OH rotational temperatures from measurements and modelling. II. Kinetic model. Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics, 175, 100-119.
Noll, Stefan; Proxauf, Bastian; Kausch, Wolfgang & Kimeswenger, Stefan
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2019, B. Am. Astron. Soc., 51, 48, Orbiting Starshade: Observing Exoplanets at visible wavelengths with GMT, TMT, and ELT
Mather, J., Arenberg, J., D’Amico, S., Cash, W., Greenhouse, M., Harness, A., Hoerbelt, T., Kain, I., Kausch, W., Kimeswenger, S., Lisse, C., Martin, S., Noll, S., Peretz, E., Przybilla, N., Seager, S., Shaklan, S., Snellen, I. & Willems, P.
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EGU General Assembly 2019, EGU2019-5328, From the ultra-violet to the near-infrared for one decade: A comprehensive data set of astronomical spectra for atmospheric research
Kausch, W., Noll, S., Kimeswenger, S. & Moehler, S.
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EGU General Assembly 2019, EGU2019-8876, Remote sensing and modelling of terrestrial potassium nightglow
Noll, S., Plane, J.M.C., Feng, W., Proxauf, B., Kimeswenger, S. & Kausch, W.
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Observations and Modeling of Potassium Emission in the Terrestrial Nightglow. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 124(12), 6612-6629.
Noll, S.; Plane, J. M. C.; Feng, W.; Proxauf, B.; Kimeswenger, S. & Kausch, W.
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Model studies on vibrationally-rotationally excited hydroxyl molecules in the mesopause region. Copernicus GmbH.
Notholt, Justus; Winkler, Holger & Noll, Stefan
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OH level populations and accuracies of Einstein-A coefficients from hundreds of measured lines. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 20(9), 5269-5292.
Noll, Stefan; Winkler, Holger; Goussev, Oleg & Proxauf, Bastian
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Properties of OH roto-vibrational level populations in the Earth's mesopause region. Copernicus GmbH.
Noll, Stefan; Winkler, Holger; Goussev, Oleg & Proxauf, Bastian
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A full decade (2009-2019) of continuous nightglow observations from the NUV to the NIR. Copernicus GmbH.
Kausch, Wolfgang; Noll, Stefan; Kimeswenger, Stefan & Moehler, Sabine
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Variability of various nightglow emissions from about 100,000 VLT/X-shooter spectra. Copernicus GmbH.
Noll, Stefan & Kausch, Wolfgang
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44th COSPAR Scientific Assembly, C1.1-0045-22, Effective emission heights of individual OH lines from ground- and space-based observations of a quasi-2-day wave.
Noll, S.; Schmidt, C.; Kausch, W.; Bittner, M. & Kimeswenger, S.
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Effective Emission Heights of Various OH Lines From X‐Shooter and SABER Observations of a Passing Quasi‐2‐Day Wave. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 127(24).
Noll, S.; Schmidt, C.; Kausch, W.; Bittner, M. & Kimeswenger, S.
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The Messenger, 189, 23-30, The ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope Working Groups.
Padovani, P., Cirasuolo, M., van der Burg, R. ... & Noll, S. et al.
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Vertical layering of OH line emission from X-shooter and SABER observations of a passing quasi-2-day wave. Copernicus GmbH.
Noll, Stefan; Kausch, Wolfgang; Schmidt, Carsten; Bittner, Michael & Kimeswenger, Stefan
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Zenodo [data set], Data for the paper 'Effective emission heights of various OH lines from X-shooter and SABER observations of a passing quasi-2-day wave'.
Noll, S., Schmidt, C., Kausch, W., Bittner, M. & Kimeswenger, S.
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2023, 28th IUGG General Assembly, IUGG23-1754, Impact of OH line parameters on intensity variations on different time scales
Noll, S., Schmidt, C., Kausch, W., Bittner, M. & Kimeswenger, S.
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Climatologies of Various OH Lines From About 90,000 X‐Shooter Spectra. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 128(9).
Noll, S.; Schmidt, C.; Kausch, W.; Bittner, M. & Kimeswenger, S.
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X-shooter-based climatologies of intensity, solar cycle effect, and residual variability for 298 OH lines. Copernicus GmbH.
Noll, Stefan; Schmidt, Carsten; Kausch, Wolfgang; Bittner, Michael & Kimeswenger, Stefan
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Zenodo [data set], Data for the paper 'Climatologies of various OH lines from about 90,000 X-shooter spectra'.
Noll, S., Schmidt, C., Kausch, W., Bittner, M. & Kimeswenger, S.
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Zenodo [data set], Measurements and simulations of the nightglow continuum at Cerro Paranal.
Noll, S., Plane, J.M.C., Feng, W., Kalogerakis, K.S., Kausch, W., Schmidt, C., Bittner, M. & Kimeswenger, S.
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Structure, variability, and origin of the low-latitude nightglow continuum between 300 and 1800 nm: evidence for HO2 emission in the near-infrared. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 24(2), 1143-1176.
Noll, Stefan; Plane, John M. C.; Feng, Wuhu; Kalogerakis, Konstantinos S.; Kausch, Wolfgang; Schmidt, Carsten; Bittner, Michael & Kimeswenger, Stefan
